Ryanair suspends Israel flights again, blaming wartime closure of low-cost terminal
Irish low-cost carrier cites high costs borne by passengers, after resuming selected routes on Feb. 1; service was canceled when war broke out on Oct. 7
Sharon Wrobel is a tech reporter for The Times of Israel
Ryanair has temporarily suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv, the Irish low-cost carrier announced Wednesday, a month after it resumed its operations to Israel with a reduced schedule amid the ongoing war with the Hamas terror group.
Europe’s largest airline by passenger numbers said it halted its operations to Israel as of February 27, as it was “forced by Ben Gurion International Airport to operate at the more expensive Terminal 3, which resulted in significantly higher costs and would have resulted in much higher air fares for Ryanair passengers traveling to and from Tel Aviv.”
As war broke out with the shock Hamas-led October 7 onslaught in southern Israel and almost all major international airlines, including Ryanair, suspended flights to Tel Aviv, the Israel Airports Authority closed Terminal 1, which is mainly used by charter and budget airlines as well as for domestic air traffic.
Since then, inbound and outbound flight traffic from Ben Gurion International Airport has been serviced solely via Terminal 3, which charges higher fees borne by passengers, who pay higher ticket prices.
Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson said that the company can’t expect its “passengers to pay higher airfares while Ben Gurion International Airport keeps the low-cost Terminal 1 closed and forces our flights into the high-cost Terminal 3, charging fees which were never agreed by Ryanair.”
Ryanair briefly resumed daily flights to and from Israel on February 1 with a reduced operating schedule, following other international carriers including Lufthansa, Swiss, Air France and Austrian. However, the Dublin-based no-frills carrier said it decided to cancel its service to Israel after its request to be charged Terminal 1 passenger rates until the lower-cost terminal reopens was denied by Ben Gurion International Airport.
The Israel Airport Authority (IAA) said it respects Ryanair’s decision and will welcome the airline back once it decides to resume operations.
Currently, about 1,500 weekly flights are serviced at Ben Gurion Airport’s Terminal 3, as demand for air travel picks up, according to the IAA.
“We worked hard with the Israeli government and Ben Gurion International Airport to re-establish Ryanair’s low fare flights to and from Tel Aviv on 1st February last,” said Ryanair’s Wilson. “We were deeply disappointed by Ben Gurion International Airport’s refusal to reopen the low-cost Terminal 1 where Ryanair normally operates.”
For now, the closure of Ben Gurion Airport’s Terminal 1 has not held back plans by other low-cost carriers to resume flights to and from Israel. Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air resumed flights on selected routes to and from Tel Aviv this month and Easyjet is scheduled to restart services to and from Israel on March 25.
Wilson said that when the cheaper Terminal 1 is reopened, that “will allow Ryanair to resume selling low-fare flights to and from Tel Aviv.”
The Times of Israel Community.